


Do You Know All I Want Is You?

by erisaspider



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS Crisis, Heavy Angst, I'm not sorry, M/M, No Happy Ending Fest, and then I write this, i don't even like angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erisaspider/pseuds/erisaspider
Summary: Sokka's in love, Zuko's sick, and it's 1982.Based on the musical Falsettos.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 39





	Do You Know All I Want Is You?

**Author's Note:**

> I am not sorry.  
> Here's a little something that I wrote in between the chapters of The Birds.

_Everything will be alright_

Sokka smiled dopily at Zuko. Zuko just stared back in confusion.

"What?" He demanded.

Sokka sighed and grabbed onto Zuko's hand, "Who would have thought you and I would end up as lovers?"

Zuko blinked, "Do you want me to reply?" 

Sokka shook his head, his grin growing wider still, "Nah," he said, "I know you aren't cut out for sappiness. But it's _okay_ , you know why?"

"No."

"Because _I_ am." 

"Okay."

"And you know what that means?"

"No."

"It means that we balance each other out perfectly! You and I, me and you, we're just meant to be, baby! I'm the ying to your yang and you're the sun to my moon, it's perfect; balanced, as things should be." 

Zuko smiled softly at him, "We sure are," he whispered. 

Sokka's grin grew wider still, "And that's how I know that everything will be alright," he said. 

Zuko's smile slipped off his face, "Sokka," he warned. 

"No, no, hear me out! Life hates us," Sokka argued. 

"Sokka, that's not helping."

"Let me finish!" Sokka paused and started over, "Life hates us. It has constantly screwed over. It took mom and Yue away from me, and it gave you that maniac as a father, and then it made your mother disappear. We have been constantly beaten down and screwed over by life, it's about time that something good happens to us, and that good thing will come in the form of your recovery, I can feel it! Just you wait, darling, everything will be alright."

Zuko sighed and yawned, and, not having the energy to argue anymore, just nodded and said, "Okay, everything will be alright," and then fell asleep on the stiff hospital bed.

* * *

_How can I express how confused I am by our happiness?_

"Wow, Zuko, you almost gave me a heart attack right when I walked through the door. That's how _hot_ you look today."

Zuko rolled his eyes, "Come on, Sokka, don't lie," he chided.

Sokka let out a dramatic gasped and clutched at his chest, right where his heart should be. "You think I'm _lying_? My dear lover, you wound me."

Zuko laughed and shook his head as he watched Sokka plop down on the chair next to the hospital bed, which had quickly grown to become his usual spot. Since Sokka's last visit, Zuko had grown thinner, it became a lot harder to breathe than it already was, and some of his hair had started falling out. He knew that he couldn't have looked too good, but Sokka's words provided a sort of comfort that he couldn't have gotten from anyone else. Perhaps it was because of how sincere he was, that it didn't just feel like empty compliments. 

"Seriously," Sokka said, "Zuko, you look _so_ much better than you did at my last visit, I mean, you always look great, but now you look better. I can tell that pretty soon you'll be on the way to recovery." 

"Sokka, I look worse than I did last time," Zuko pointed out, gesturing at the cap that was covering his bald spots.

Sokka took a glance at the cap before smiling cheekily, "Pretty soon you'll look just like you did on the day we first met," he said.

Zuko groaned and buried his head in the palm of his hands, "Don't remind me of that," he whined.

Sokka just laughed and shook his head. 

"Uncle Iroh sends his regards," Sokka said, "and his tea."

Sokka lifted up the bag he had brought with him, inside of which was a to-go cup from the Jasmine Dragon filled with chamomile tea. 

"He says that the chamomile tea has medicinal properties and that it'll help you and your illness, so you better drink it all."

Zuko groaned, "I hate chamomile tea." 

Sokka shrugged, "Too bad, you have to drink it, Uncle's orders."

"But Sokka--"

"Come on, Zuko, drink the tea, for me. So that you can get better and then I can have my favorite space heater back."

Zuko chuckled weakly, "Okay, whatever you say, Sokka."

* * *

_Something bad is happening_

Everyday Zuko was growing weaker and weaker. Even Sokka was finding it difficult to maintain optimistic about the situation. Zuko was growing weaker, thinner, paler and looking more gaunt by the minute, and Sokka hadn't left the hospital room in three days.

"Sokka," Zuko started, "go home. Go home and take a shower, watch TV, and then go to bed. I'll be fine on my own."

Sokka shook his head, "I'm doing just fine here," he said.

"Sokka, I'm worried about your health. What happens if you get sick too, huh? We can't afford for the both of us to get sick."

"I'll be _fine_ , Zuko," Sokka insisted, "I'm just trying to keep you company. Besides, I can't go home, because, what if when I'm home you...you..." Sokka trailed of and pointedly hid his face in has hands. 

Zuko looked at him with sadness in his eyes. With what little strength he had left, he reached forward and grabbed Sokka's hands, gently removing them from his face. He placed them down between the two of them on the bed and squeezed them.

"Sokka," he began softly, "I'm going to be alright. Everything will be alright, it's going to be okay. But I need you to go home and take care of yourself so that you can avoid this in the future. The last thing I want is for you to end up like me."

"Zuko..."

"I'll be fine, and when you come back to the hospital from your time at home you'll see that I'll still be right here with you. I promise you, I'm not going anywhere without you."

Sokka's body convulsed slightly before he was engulfing Zuko in a big hug. Zuko felt his shoulder get wet as Sokka started to sob.

"Sometimes I wish you were still the big jerk you were when we first met," Sokka mumbled in between tears, "so that this could be easier."

Zuko smiled weakly and buried his against Sokka's neck, "Me too," he whispered, "me too.

Eventually, Sokka pulled away and gave a Zuko a watery smile, "I'm going to go home," he whispered, "but I'll be back real soon, I promise."

"Okay," Zuko whispered back, as if daring to speak any louder would shatter the delicate bubble they had placed themselves in. 

"I'll be right back," Sokka repeated, "I love you."

Zuko felt himself smile. Before, they hadn't really used the words I love you much, but ever since Zuko's condition worsened, they had made sure that every goodbye ended with an I love you, just in case.

"I love you too."

* * *

_There are no answers, but what would I do if you had not been my friend?_

It had happened when they had been lying in the hospital bed together. Sokka had his arms around Zuko and was holding him against his chest as gently as he could when Zuko had started coughing violently.

Sokka sat up, "Zuko? Are you okay?"

Zuko nodded in between his coughs and gestured for Sokka to lay down again. Eventually, he calmed down enough to stop coughing and the two of them settled into peaceful silence yet again.

It was broken by Zuko.

"Sokka?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." 

He didn't speak again after that.

**Author's Note:**

> Songs referenced (they're all from Falsettos)  
> In Order:  
> Something Bad Is Happening (the title)  
> A Day in Falsettoland  
> What More Can I Say?  
> Something Bad Is Happening (again)  
> What Would I Do?


End file.
